party

How to Set Up a DIY Mimosa Bar

These tips for setting up your own DIY mimosa bar make it easy for the hostess to relax as guests help themselves at your weekend brunch, wedding, bridal shower, or other reason to celebrate.

Unlike cocktail party martinis or game-day beer busts, mimosa brunches aren’t intended to get anyone hammered or be the stepping stone to the dance floor and get the party started. Instead, they’re for those of us who appreciate a barely buzzed, lazy day, bubbly champagne sipper.

I recently hosted my niece’s bridal shower and like any good hostess, my first goal of the party was to keep things easy on myself. I set up a DIY bagel brunch bar with a few salads and desserts so the guests could help themselves.

For drinks, I thought abut setting up another on of my famous DIY Bloody Mary Bars, but feeling the need for something more refined, I made a DIY mimosa bar with all the makings for the perfect mimosa recipe instead.

Stocked with plenty of chilled and bubbly sparkling wine, fresh juices, and fun fruits to add to the champagne flutes, a DIY mimosa bar for baby showers, Mother’s Day, Easter, or just about any excuse for a holiday is just the right recipe for adding a little fizz to the day’s festivity.continue to the recipe… about How to Set Up a DIY Mimosa Bar

How to Serve a DIY Bagels and Lox Brunch Bar

Wondering what to serve a crowd at your next party? Make it easy on the hostess with this breakfast and brunch buffet idea: Serve a DIY bagels and lox brunch bar.

Last year when my niece Chandler announced she was engaged, I knew I wanted to host a bridal shower for her. With her wedding date set for early May, coming up with spring shower ideas would be perfect timing.

So this past weekend with 20 to 30 guests arriving for her bridal shower party (why doesn’t anyone RSVP anymore???) something totally unexpected happened, and it pretty much blew my mind.

For probably the first time in my hostessing career, I didn’t freak the freak out while prepping for the party.

Why didn’t I have my usual pre-party hostessing melt down? Because you guys convinced me to make it easy on myself and create a build your own bagel and lox brunch bar as the centerpiece of our day.continue to the recipe… about How to Serve a DIY Bagels and Lox Brunch Bar

Game-Day Baked Chicken Wings with 4 Winning Sauces

Who loves a decadently-decorated, ready to dive into cheese board? Apparently everyone. These days you can barely skim through your Instagram feed without seeing one and liking, liking, liking. So what happens when you take baked chicken wings and draft them as the standard board’s starting player. THIS!

This recipe is brought to you by Kroger

Today we’re taking the concept of everyone’s favorite cheese board and putting it into game-day chicken wing overdrive that starts with a crispy baked chicken wing recipe that’s then dressed in four different sauces and teamed up with all the dippers for a chicken wing platter that’s sure to score.

We all know the game-day tailgate drill.

Decide on a menu that’s easy-ish to transport.

Hustle to the grocery store to get the shopping done.

Start cooking. Realize you forgot something.

Head back to the store.

Look at the clock and wipe the sweat from your brow.

Finish cooking. Pack up the food. Freak out that everyone else isn’t ready to leave yet. (because they’re waiting for you. Doh.)

Swing back by the store for ice for the cooler.

Hope that nothing spills in the car on the way over.

Unpack. Set-up. Wish you’d remembered the paper towels to clean up the car.

Really, really wish for that beer but the chip dish needs a refill first.

Wait! Whhhhaaat?

The game’s about to start and we already have go to our seats? But we haven’t even gotten started yet!

guys. Guys. GUYS! Game day feasting doesn’t have to go down that way. It’s why I have a new favorite way to enjoy my tailgate festivities, and it all starts at home.

Introducing the game-day homegate party, where it’s easy to prep for, and do I dare say actually become an enjoyable event to cheer, jeer, drink your beer all in the comfort of your own home. Or better yet, at a friends (and leave the clean-up for them to do later!)

continue to the recipe… about Game-Day Baked Chicken Wings with 4 Winning Sauces

How to Host a Wine and Cheese Pairing Party + Free Printable

I’m the first to admit it. I’m not an expert in the nuances of cheese. And I am a far, far, far cry from calling myself a wine enthusiast, let alone a sommelier. You didn’t by chance notice those ice cubes in my Chardonnay, did you? Hang my head in shame, but that’s how I roll.

But I do love cheese, and I do love wine. So throwing a casual party that marries my love of the two really isn’t that hard of a thing to fathom. Especially after I learned a thing or two to set me on my way thanks to my friends at Wisconsin Cheese.

A few weeks ago I was in Miami, Florida for the yearly Blogher Food Conference. It’s a get together where a bunch of us foodies on the web emerge from our blogging caves to network with one another, meet sponsoring brands, learn how to better our craft, and basically be forced into the open air of society—aka, a great excuse to go shopping for new clothes! You can read more about my trip here.

One of my favorite parts of the Blogher conference was going to the Wisconsin Cheese Bloggers By the Bay cocktail party. For the past two years I’ve been fortunate to work with Wisconsin Cheese in creating recipes, photography and videos, and I’ve even been a judge for their Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown. I’m a judge again this year so watch for my Instagram feed to be melting down in ooey goodness later this month. Ha. Melting down. The puns are flowing today. Brace yourself.

continue to the recipe… about How to Host a Wine and Cheese Pairing Party + Free Printable

Roasted Turkey Breast with Lemon and Oregano

This post is presented in partnership with Swanson. Thanks for supporting companies I believe in, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you.

This time of year always brings out the party bug in me and the holiday season and entertaining go hand in hand. Swinging their joyously clasped palms in unison as they skip along and infest everyone they see with a big dose of cheer.

Parties. Entertaining. Friends and family. When the party bug in me invites the cooking bug to the festivities, that’s when I get busy in the kitchen.

I’ve always been a holiday cook. As a kid I would bake for days, striving to create the best lemon bars on the planet while snacking on my Mom’s Best Homemade Fudge. As an adult, I’m now the hostess hoping to be the mostess for Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas brunches where without fail, we make this every single year.

But it wasn’t always that way.

As a kid, our family almost always did the same celebratory traipsing when it came to holiday time together. Christmas brunch was always at my mom and dad’s house and Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve were always at Grandma Mary Jane’s. It’s so funny to me that we all referred to it as “Grandma’s house” even though Grandpa was always there too. Maybe because she was the heartbeat of the family, adored by her husband, children and their children that the label just stuck.

Grandma was one of those women who just had the “it” factor. Call me biased, but it’s true. The woman possessed poise in the most genuine and accessible way possible, making everyone around her feel instantly part of the fun.

continue to the recipe… about Roasted Turkey Breast with Lemon and Oregano

Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip and Friday Faves

I’m finishing up my unofficial, undeclared week of delicious cream cheese dips with just one more cheesy wonder: Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip.

While I’ve been slathering my Smoked Salmon Spread on bagel crisps, and dipping chips into this Porter Caramelized Onion Dip (check out the cookbook giveaway that features it), I figured what better time than this very moment to break out a Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip.

Because I haven’t broken into the crackers yet!

continue to the recipe… about Hot Shrimp Creamy Cheese Dip and Friday Faves

Stetson Chunky Potato Salad

If I had my druthers—which I often do—I’d skip the traditional main protein (chicken or meat) and instead go for a selection of side dishes. I’d much rather have a taste of this and a bite of that, a smattering of tastes to satisfy my undecided thanks to so many options cravings.

When I shared my Roasted Potato Salad with Bacon Dressing recipe I mentioned I’d be sharing a few new recipes with you this summer. Potato salad is one of my all time favorites, and lucky for me, there are plenty of options out there. Mayonnaise based, olive oil based, some with pickles, some with herbs and more, more, more. I may never run out of recipes and flavor combinations to try.

continue to the recipe… about Stetson Chunky Potato Salad

Escape with Ghirardelli Intense Dark: How to Host a Chocolate Tasting Party

It’s been a long, snowbound winter, and while the new rush of spring has officially arrived—along with blooming daffodils and bright colored shorts and cute strappy flip flops begging me to buy…Buy…BUY!—I’m still hanging onto the last few weeks of family and friend time in the snowy wonder of my beloved Utah mountains.

Spring skiing. It is the best. THE BEST I tell you. It’s the perfect escape from winter, an affirmation of the thaw ahead. Warm sun kissing my cheeks, the smell of burgers on the outside grills mid-mountain and slushy snow to guide my skis through. For some reason spring skiing always seems so much more freeing, like you don’t have as much to prove by getting better, skiing harder and weathering the storms. Which is why I savor these last few outings with Smudge and our friends.

Watching Smudge and her BFF *E* ski together is such a crazy experience. These two little girlies met in pre-school and became inseparable—they were one another’s first playdate, went to their first concert together and are always at the top of one another’s sleepover list.

Thank goodness Smudge has such good intuition, because *E*’s parents quickly became some of our best friends too, maybe because we share way too many coincidences in our life timeline to ignore that our friendship was meant to be. Michi and Adam—or A-Game as we like to call him—are the type who are always quick to the rescue and pretty much game for anything, especially when it comes to giving *E* as much life has to offer as possible. You can see why we’re friends, I mean, who WOULDN’T want to be friends with people like that?

For the past two years we’ve all gotten season ski passes so the girls can get outside and take advantage of living among some of the greatest snow on earth. It was pretty much a given Smudge would be a skiier since G Dawg and I grew up on skis. Smudge and *E* were both born in Los Angeles and we’re all convinced they will be pretty disgruntled when they realize they could have grown up as beach bunnies, rollerblading up and down the Venice Boardwalk instead of making snow angels. Ah, but we will do our best convincing that growing up a snow bunny will definitely have its merits. Hello, who doesn’t want to be Lindsey Vonn in the winter and Gabby Reese in the summer?

But until they decide they need to hang up their ski boots for boogie boards, we’re all about documenting and encouraging them to have fun. A-game is always at the ready with his camera, videotaping each event and documenting the memories we are apt to create. G-Dawg has the patience of a saint, teaching the girls how to move from “french fries” to slaloms with a bunch of snow ball fights in between. I’m just there to corral the cats.

Now Michi on the other hand, she’s the heart and soul of the group, the organizer, the one that makes things happen no matter how hairbrained a scheme it may sound to others. She’s all in, and I can’t wait for her newest conquest of acquiring an Airstream trailer comes to fruition. She has dreams of camping, whilst I have visions of parking it in the ski lot, pulling out the barbeque and camping out for happy hour after the day’s runs are done.

continue to the recipe… about Escape with Ghirardelli Intense Dark: How to Host a Chocolate Tasting Party